The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded the Oregon Folklife Network funding to conduct folklife field surveys and documentation of traditions in the southern Oregon counties. Folklorists LuAnne Kozma and Douglas Manger will be conducting the fieldwork. Kozma will be in Lake and Klamath counties starting at the end of October/ beginning of November (back in the spring!) while Manger will be in Harney and Malheur counties in April but will be begin contacting individuals in November.

OFN is looking to document a variety of culture keepers from different ethnic and regional groups (Basque, Japanese, Croatian, Irish, Mexican, Klamath, Norwegian, Chinese, etc.) as well as farm & waterways traditions, ranching, foodways, old time music, quilting, auctioneering, and others we don’t even know about yet! We’ll then share these tradition keepers in our Arts in the Parks programs, our folk artist roster, local festivals, or library programs.

Please tell us about folks in those areas who are known for their traditional music making, quilting, storytelling, cooking, saddle making, fly tying, chain saw carving, trapping, taxidermy, basket making, and so on. We’re very interested in the range of possibilities!

To provide OFN with contact information for tradition keepers, contact Riki Saltzman, riki@uoregon.edu , or Emily West Afanador, eafanado@uoregon.edu, or phone 541-346-3820.